No danger to Branch County from Michigan oil spill

Friday

Jul 30, 2010 at 12:01 AMJul 30, 2010 at 8:03 AM

While reports on the Enbridge oil spill continue to vary, with some key questions unanswered, state Rep. Ken Kurtz said Thursday he was told there is no danger to northern Branch County from the spill.

Roland Stoy

While reports on the Enbridge oil spill continue to vary, with some key questions unanswered, state Rep. Ken Kurtz said Thursday he was told there is no danger to northern Branch County from the spill.

The Kalamazoo River watershed does not reach beyond Calhoun County to the north.

He also said the company had not yet arrived at the primary source of the leak.

The Coldwater Republican and other state legislators had attended a meeting with Enbridge and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials in Marshall, at which they said the “marshy, boggy” area had prevented them from reaching the apparent rupture.

Meanwhile, he said he was told hundreds of Enbridge workers, with more equipment coming in every day, were continuing to suck up the oil-laden water from Talmadge Creek in Marshall Township. He said they were putting it in storage tanks, and bringing in more storage tanks.

Most estimates now put the spill at over a million gallons.

While Kurtz reported a wildlife cleanup center operating as of Thursday and Calhoun County public health officials reportedly trying to get more people in the area of the spill to evacuate due to the presence of Benzene in the air, reports on the extent of the spill varied.

It was confirmed by all agencies that oil was at a Morrow Lake dam, just east of Kalamazoo, the lake considered the last line of defense to keep the oil from reaching Lake Michigan.

The Associated Press (AP) reported, regarding a flyover of the lake, that Tom Sands, deputy state director for emergency management and homeland security, said he saw oil in the lake, and EPA spokesman Mick Hans said otherwise. They were in the same plane.

The New York Times reported Friday morning Enbridge was warned in January about insufficient monitoring of corrosion on the pipeline. They did not identify the “federal regulator” or the agency, and this was found at no other sources.

Sara Metz, an aide to U.S. Rep. Mark Schauer, D-Battle Creek, said Friday she had notified the Washington D.C. office to look into the report.

Metz, a salaried aide who has been putting in 14-to-18 hour days this week on the spill, said the source of the report was likely the U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).

Kurtz noted much conflicting information regarding the crisis, and said the officials told lawmakers, in terms of cleanup, “We’re not talking weeks, we’re talking months.”